partners

If you caught us on Instagram, we went out in the sleet Saturday morning to catch Hello Kitty’s Treat Cafe van that pit stopped at Park Meadows. It was sort of a big disappointment in my opinion. We got there EARLY, and the line was going to be an hour and a half for a macaroon, which I hate, or a cookie or mini cake. There wasn’t ANY music, balloons, OR Hello Kitty! Hmmm… somehow I don’t think Hello Kitty would have approved of this. Having experienced her world tour last summer, I can speculate because surely she would have at least remembered her balloons!

What followed that small hiccup Saturday morning, was a PERFECT family day. We popped inside Park Meadows to get toasty and figure out a plan for our day when we bumped into the Easter Bunny in his garden! The line was short, so we thought, why not?! We did NOT spend $30 on a 5X7 however, that would be just as foolish as waiting out in the wet and cold for a Hello Kitty emblazoned cookie, but we waited for The Bunny so the girls could whisper in his ear what they wanted for Easter, Remy asked for chocolate.

We met up with a little friend who was also there to see the Hello Kitty buzz and we all putzed around the Disney store for a bit. We had lunch in the Dining Hall, where the girls redeemed themselves by showing proper restaurant etiquette, appropriate for babies anyway, and being an example to Baba of how they can, at times, sit and eat a meal in public. After lunch, we decided to check Dick’s Sporting Goods, conveniently located right there off the Dining Hall, for some soccer cleats for Remy! Her first pair! She is doing a mini soccer camp this spring which starts next Saturday. I am by NO MEANS excited to become a “soccer mom,” but being married to a soccer player/coach/ref, sort of implies that it’s in my future in some capacity. I have to say, seeing her excited about her first pair of PINK cleats, and not taking them off until we got to the car, WAS probably the highlight of Saturday, and both Baba and I were a little proud. I can’t imagine when she sores a goal!

We popped in the Lego store on the way out for a bit because you simply can’t pass on by the Lego store and NOT go in. They BOTH crashed in the car on the way home. Nothing was planned or thought out that day, except the Hello Kitty thing, but it turned into a wonderful family day.

Easter Sunday I hosted a brunch. I say “hosted,” lightly, because all of my siblings and my momma came WITH food! My sister brought an iced lemon cake-YUM- and coffee cakes, like enough sweets to feed the neighborhood! My momma brought deviled eggs on the cutest Bambi platter, not one egg was left. My older brother made breakfast burritos- ALL GONE- and his wife brought a fruit salad. They also gifted Arlo with her Christmas gift, a little later as we haven’t seen each other, TERRIBLE, I know, and it was a GORGEOUS, handmade blanket…I am in love. She outdid herself. She had made a blanket for Remy and we love and use it to this day. Blankies are a big thing in my family. We all had one growing up, and I am so fortunate to have talented family to make the girls’ theirs now. My younger brother brought chocolate bunnies for the girls. You can’t have Easter without a chocolate bunny!

My family REALLY spoiled my girls, thank you soooo much guys! Momma got them THE cutest mini gardening kit with seeds and a grow-your-own garden kit with little purple pots they can decorate, such a sweet gift for spring and Remy has been wanting her own spade and shovel for some time now! They even have tiny gardening gloves! My sister gave them gift cards to toys R Us for a little shopping trip- you should NOT have sis… and my brother and sister in law gave them bubble wands, GIANT lollipops which Remy is STILL trying to get us to open (they are hidden away), and the cutest little boxes filled with treats. The green egg with jelly beans was a HIT.

The BEST Easter Sunday ever because it felt like old times when we were young and all together. We FaceTimed my dad who lives on the western slope.

We had fresh fruit, juice, and pancakes. Thanks to my momma for flipping them as I dashed around! My husband was an incredible co-host, always is, and cleaned up EVERYTHING post brunch! Always does…We have had our fair share of bumps and disagreements over the years, we just celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary, but we haven’t got much to truly be disgruntled over long enough to make much of anything out of. We can both be sensitive and dramatic, but whenever I look back at the argument, it always seems so trivial.

Anyway, I was an itsy bits embarrassed, okay, a LOT, about myself because I was bummed that the Easter egg hunt part of the morning was a little scattered. Sometimes, I am a little too anal and when things don’t go according to how I imagined them to go, I get thrown and can become a little bratty. Such an ugly trait, and I recognize it, and am always trying to correct it. My nieces are a little older now and they wanted to hide eggs for my girls to hunt. My girls haven’t the foggiest yet on how or why to look for eggs. I had hid some plastic eggs around the living room earlier that morning, but they didn’t grasp that they were anything special to be excited about and they didn’t really go searching for more after stumbling upon one or two. They were however, thrilled with their baskets that the bunny had left. SO when it came time to hunt REAL dyed Easter eggs, what I grew up doing, it was sort of chaotic and I was trying to capture them finding eggs, but they weren’t finding any, and we were traipsing around the snow and then we were Facetiming my dad as I had a cell phone and a camera and a baby in the snow…It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. I think it will be a couple years before they get it. Let’s just say I feel like I have SEVERAL unfound hard boiled eggs buried in the snow in my backyard. How pleasant that will be come the 70 degree weather we are supposed to warm up to.

It was an incredibly busy and full morning, and there wasn’t time for naps! After cleanup we headed to a cousin’s party, in keeping with tradition as we did last year, for more egg hunting, chicken enchiladas and another beautiful spread, which included one of my FAVES- spring cake from The Market! The kiddos got completely spoiled, AGAIN, with candies and treats from all the guests who came and brought something to fill all the baskets. We pushed the girls well BEYOND their limits, and they both surprisingly were INCREDIBLE! I kept them fed, from what I could get them to eat, but at one point we knew it was a threshold. A point that if we left then, we knew they would fall asleep in the car and then wake up and possibly be awake until who knows when, so we decided we might as well stay at the party a while longer to time it to make it home for bedtime. The party was intimate enough that everyone mostly stayed as well and the children were so happy and content playing that the adults got to chatting about margarita recipes and we decide to indulge and have a try. That team can blend up a good one!

It was such GREAT day. I LOVE days that are filled with family and friends, even though they don’t happen often enough it seems. I am also bummed we didn’t take a family photo, and I don’t have any photos of the girls in their gorgeous vintage Easter dresses without coats on. You can see them better from a couple weeks ago here. I even said aloud that I had wanted to get the tripod set up for a family pick before leaving for the party, but getting this family ready and out the door isn’t the easiest! I hope next holiday I will be more prepared.

I want to end by thanking God above for sending his only son to die on the cross for our salvation. Thank you for the blessings we have in our lives because of the sacrifice.